Saint Thomas Aquinas Primary Source Analysis One of the most well known documents of the theologist Saint Thomas Aquinas was the Summa Theologica which was an extensive piece of work that targeted many of the conservative views of the church. He provided his point of view on those beliefs. The Summa Theologica is has many small sections which are topics that he went over and then there were questions that many people in society during his time wanted answers to. But what he did differently was he gave answers and was not concerned about pleasing the conservative church. Aquinas would give his view on the topic and then have evidence that would directly go against the conservative claims. He marked the beginning of a combination of Theology and Religion. Aquinas wrote the Summa Theologica as a way to show that the conservatives did not have as much power as they claimed. He gave the people an alternative option to follow. The main question was Aquinas put forth was whether the human soul in the present state of life can understand immaterial substances in themselves? During this time it was thought God was such a high entity that nobody could possibly know he really looked like because nobody was pure enough to truly know. The conservative church was basically saying that by nature man is never would never be able to understand God, so people should just accept that fact that he exists and let nature take its course, : “ ‘ nature would be frustrated in its end" were we unable to understand abstract substances , "because it would have made what in itself is naturally intelligible not to be understood at all." But in nature nothing is idle or purposeless. Therefore immaterial substances can be understood by us” (Summa Theologica pg. 88). Aquinas basically was refuting that by accepting nature and not investigating, it was missing out on learning so many things the universe has to offer and was just a way for the Church to control people. Later in the text, he went against the statement of man not being able to understand nature Aquinas stated that : “For since the nature of our intellect is to abstract the quiddity of material things from matter , anything material residing in that abstracted quiddity can again be made subject to abstraction ; and as the process of abstraction cannot go on forever, it must arrive at length at some immaterial quiddity, absolutely without matter ; and this would be the understanding of immaterial substance ..” (Summa Theologica pg.89). He said that our intellect itself was an abstract concept but when a person dies, abstraction will end and that was when a person will truly have the capability of understanding these immaterial substances or God himself. In conclusion, Saint Thomas Aquinas’ life was full of hardships in the beginning when he was trying to go against the conservative church and stand up for what he believed. When he wrote the Summa Theologica it led to so many people to start questioning what exactly they were being taught.
Works Cited Aquinas, Thomas. Summa Theologica. Translated by Fathers of the English Dominican Province. Benziger Bros. ed. Westminster, MD: Christian Classics, 1947. http://www.ccel.org/ccel/aquinas/summa.html (accessed December 1, 2016)
St Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas was important theologian and philosopher of his time. He was born in 1225 in Roccasecca, Italy and was the youngest of eight siblings. (Biography.com). His father’s Landulf of Aquino was part of a high class family from southern Italy while his mother, Countess Theodora was from Teano but was still considered to be of lower nobility. (Biography.com) Aquinas spent his early years training in the Abbey of Monte Cassio since he was five years old following his father’s footsteps where he was surrounded by Benedictine monks (Biography.com) From a young age he started asking questions about God moved to Naples when he was thirteen where he discovered the philosopher Aristotle's work. It made him look into more contemporary orders rather than the conservative services that were provided to him at the Abbey House (Biography.com) In 1239, Aquinas started attending the University of Naples and later joined the Dominican Monks in secrecy in 1243 (Biography). When his family found out they felt so betrayed that his mother arranged for his brothers to kidnap him. They held him captive for one to two years. Aquinas tutored his sisters and still communicated with the Dominican order while two of his brothers hired a prostitute to seduce him. He declined by apparently chasing her away with a fire iron (Catholic.org). His mother Theodora knew that he did not listen to them so rather than accept this, she arranged for his escape through the window in order to preserve the family name. (catholic online). Aquinas continued studying with the Dominicans in Naples and moved on to Cologne, led by Albertus Magnus, where he earned his degree in Theology. He also wrote the Four Books of Sentences ( Scriptum super libros Sententiarium) and started teaching in Paris for three years after that (Biography.com). He dedicated his life after completing his education to travelling, teaching, preaching and public speaking combining theological principles with modern thought (Biography.com). In 1256, he was appointed as regent master in theology in Paris where when he took office between this time and 1274. Aquinas wrote many of his famous pieces such as Summa Theologica, and Summa Contra Gentiles, along with many other texts that were discussions of other philosophers such as Aristotle (Biography.com). An excerpt from the Summa Theologica shows how he set up questions that there were in the church that society was confused about and answered them: “ARTICLE 3. Whether the essence of God can be seen with the bodily eye? I answer that, It is impossible for God to be seen by the sense of sight, or by any other sense, or faculty of the sensitive power. For every such kind of power is the act of a corporeal organ, as will be shown later” (Catholic.org) His writing touched upon the questions went going through the minds of intellectuals, church authorities and everyday citizens (Biography.com). On June 1272, Aquinas was seen crying and levitating while chanting a prayer which apparently Christ told him “ ‘You have written well of me, Aquinas. What reward would you have for your labor?"Aquinas replied, "Nothing but you, Lord.’” (Catholic online). After this exchange he was never the same again because his writing did not have the same passion or flow that it did before (Catholic online). In 1274, he went on a trip to Lyon France where he fell ill and was kept in the Cistercian monastery of Fossanova, Italy but died soon after. His teaching are still debated over today and used in universities worldwide.
Works Cited
Aquinas, Thomas. Summa Theologica. Translated by Fathers of the English Dominican Province. Benziger Bros. ed. Westminster, MD: Christian Classics, 1947. http://www.ccel.org/ccel/aquinas/summa.html (accessed December 1, 2016)
St Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas was important theologian and philosopher of his time. He was born in 1225 in Roccasecca, Italy and was the youngest of eight siblings. (Biography.com). His father’s Landulf of Aquino was part of a high class family from southern Italy while his mother, Countess Theodora was from Teano but was still considered to be of lower nobility. (Biography.com) Aquinas spent his early years training in the Abbey of Monte Cassio since he was five years old following his father’s footsteps where he was surrounded by Benedictine monks (Biography.com) From a young age he started asking questions about God moved to Naples when he was thirteen where he discovered the philosopher Aristotle's work. It made him look into more contemporary orders rather than the conservative services that were provided to him at the Abbey House (Biography.com) In 1239, Aquinas started attending the University of Naples and later joined the Dominican Monks in secrecy in 1243 (Biography). When his family found out they felt so betrayed that his mother arranged for his brothers to kidnap him. They held him captive for one to two years. Aquinas tutored his sisters and still communicated with the Dominican order while two of his brothers hired a prostitute to seduce him. He declined by apparently chasing her away with a fire iron (Catholic.org). His mother Theodora knew that he did not listen to them so rather than accept this, she arranged for his escape through the window in order to preserve the family name. (catholic online). Aquinas continued studying with the Dominicans in Naples and moved on to Cologne, led by Albertus Magnus, where he earned his degree in Theology. He also wrote the Four Books of Sentences ( Scriptum super libros Sententiarium) and started teaching in Paris for three years after that (Biography.com). He dedicated his life after completing his education to travelling, teaching, preaching and public speaking combining theological principles with modern thought (Biography.com). In 1256, he was appointed as regent master in theology in Paris where when he took office between this time and 1274. Aquinas wrote many of his famous pieces such as Summa Theologica, and Summa Contra Gentiles, along with many other texts that were discussions of other philosophers such as Aristotle (Biography.com). An excerpt from the Summa Theologica shows how he set up questions that there were in the church that society was confused about and answered them: “ARTICLE 3. Whether the essence of God can be seen with the bodily eye? I answer that, It is impossible for God to be seen by the sense of sight, or by any other sense, or faculty of the sensitive power. For every such kind of power is the act of a corporeal organ, as will be shown later” (Catholic.org) His writing touched upon the questions went going through the minds of intellectuals, church authorities and everyday citizens (Biography.com). On June 1272, Aquinas was seen crying and levitating while chanting a prayer which apparently Christ told him “ ‘You have written well of me, Aquinas. What reward would you have for your labor?"Aquinas replied, "Nothing but you, Lord.’” (Catholic online). After this exchange he was never the same again because his writing did not have the same passion or flow that it did before (Catholic online). In 1274, he went on a trip to Lyon France where he fell ill and was kept in the Cistercian monastery of Fossanova, Italy but died soon after. His teaching are still debated over today and used in universities worldwide.
Works Cited
Biography.com . A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2016. Online, Catholic. "St. Thomas Aquinas Saints & Angels Catholic Online." Catholic Online . N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2016. "Thomas Aquinas (1225—1274)Thomas Aquinas (1225—1274)." Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy . N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2016.
Prepared by Marilyn K. Garcia